—TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO
Members of City Council recently approved a resolution to rename the 6600 block of Germantown Avenue after late activist and journalist Jerome (Jerry) Whyatt Mondesire.
The street renaming received a unanimous vote from City Council members, minutes before the close of the council hearings on Thursday.
The renaming was spearheaded by current Philadelphia Sunday Sun publisher Catherine Hicks. Councilwomen Cindy Bass and Blondell Reynolds Brown later proposed a resolution to officially instate Jerry Mondesire Way in Germantown.
Mondesire served as president of the Pennsylvania state and Philadelphia chapters of the NAACP, and was the founder and publisher of the Philadelphia Sunday Sun.
He was also an early member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, host of the radio program Vision Quest on WDAS-FM and a regular panelist on 6ABC’s Inside Story.
“We love Jerry and we wanted to recognize him and we certainly think that he’s someone worthy of this kind of a recognition and it’s my honor to be able to do this for him,” Bass said.
“He’s had a huge impact on Philadelphia,” she added. “[Although] he wasn’t a native of Philadelphia his footprint was impactful here in the city.”
The resolution stated the aim of the street renaming is to “recognize, honor, and celebrate the life and legacy for his [Mondesire] dedication to social justice and political empowerment of black and brown communities in the City of Philadelphia.”
“We need to recognize him and to say thank you for all that you did us [including] reviving our NAACP, fighting for civil rights issues on behalf of the city of Philadelphia and for calling out things that were happening to African Americans in the city that should not be happening,” Bass said. “[Most of all] for being an overall leader at a time when leadership was always needed here.”